Saturday, August 17, 2019

United States: Biggest #1 Songs

This is a list of the #1 songs of all time according to U.S. pop charts – with a twist. These songs could have hit #1 on any of the following charts:

the Billboard Hot 100 chart, 1955-present (BB)

the pre-Hot 100 pop charts, 1890-1955 (BB)

the Billboard pop airplay chart, 1984-present (BA)

Hit Parade, 1935-1955 (HP)

Cashbox, 1950-1996 (CB)

Hit Records, 1954-1982 (HR)

Radio & Records/Mediabase, 1973-2015 (RR)

All songs with 10 or more weeks on any of these charts are listed. If a song hit #1 on more than chart, only the chart where the song had the most weeks is noted. Also, there are some songs (noted with *) which hit #1 multiple times by different artists. This was especially prevalent in the pre-rock era when the focus was more on the song than the artist who recorded it. This allows songs like “Peg O’ My Heart” and “Over There” – which each hit #1 FOUR times on the Billboard charts – to make this list. Artists who took the song to #1 are listed, along with the year the song first charted and how many weeks it was at the pinnacle.

One last note – in the event of ties, songs are ranked according to most overall points in Dave’s Music Database. For songs which hit #1 multiple times, the version which accumulated the most points is used.